By Bridget Wentworth STAFF WRITER
PHILADELPHIA -- If you're going to play with Bobby Holik and Randy
McKay, you'd better be able to take -- and deliver -- physical punishment.

One look at Sergei Brylin and you wouldn't think he'd be the right candidate
for that job. Brylin is a slight hockey player who doesn't look as if he'd
fit in on a line with bruisers. But that's where many observers, and many
opponents, make their mistake -- Brylin is a lot tougher than he looks.

He has shown it throughout his six-year career, and he showed it during
the Devils' 4-1 victory over the Flyers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference
finals yesterday. Against a team that plays a style as physical as do the
Devils, Brylin was a force. The fleet-footed left wing drove much of the
excellent play his line produced. He is not afraid of anyone -- he'll take
a hit to make a play and makes sure he gets up quickly to get back in the
action.

The only time Brylin hasn't gotten up in recent memory was when he went
leg-to-leg with the hulking Oleg Kvasha in the first round against Florida,
and crumpled to the ice with a badly damaged knee. Brylin missed six playoff
games with the injury but returned three games ago to provide a spark.

In the Devils' victory over the Flyers, Brylin earned two assists and
set up the goal that ended Bobby Holik's playoff goal-less streak at 28
games.

"They (the opposition) think he's going to be intimidated, but he takes
a hit and makes a play. He won't give up on a play just because he's going
to get hit," Holik said of Brylin. "Especially on (Scott Niedermayer's)
goal, where there were two guys coming at him and he makes the play.

"His toughness is not just in taking the hit, it's in taking the hit
and making the play. He won't quit just because he gets hit."

No one would blame Brylin if he shied away from contact on the ice.
The 5-10, 190-pound forward already had one wonky knee before he hurt the
other one against Florida, and that might make anyone think twice before
going into the corners against a team as big as the Flyers. But Brylin
refuses to play scared, and it shows.

"I'm going to go out there and play hard, especially in the playoffs.
You don't get that many chances to go far in the playoffs, so all the bad
knees -- those are things you don't really think about," Brylin said. "To
me, it's easy to play on that line with those guys because they're so big
and they make room for me. I'm just trying to get open, trying to create
something for them."

It worked in Game 1, and Brylin, Holik and McKay no doubt will try to
make it work in Game 2 tomorrow night.

"Out of everyone in this locker room, he (Brylin) has probably played
with Bobby and I more than any other player," McKay said. "That helps.
Any time you know what you're going to get from players, it just makes
the game that much easier."